Catheterization procedures require that a large blood vessel, generally the femoral artery in a patient's groin area, be punctured and a catheter introduced therein. Such a catheter may be used as part of an angioplasty procedure, or for other procedures in which blood vessels have instruments directed therein. The artery clamp of the invention comes into use at the end of the catheterization procedure when the catheter and associated components are removed from the blood vessel when it is necessary to stop the flow of blood from a relatively large puncture of the blood vessel.
A variety of artery clamps are known. One such artery clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,249 to Semler for ARTERY CLAMP. The early artery clamp allows only vertical movement of an arm carrying a pressure pad thereon. It is therefore necessary to shift the base of the artery clamp in order to laterally position the pressure pad over the puncture site created during the catheterization procedure. An important feature of the Semler Artery Clamp is the provision of pressure feedback to a medical technician positioning the clamp. As the pressure pad is brought into contact with the patient's body over the puncture site, the technician has a feel for how much pressure is being applied as a result of manually lowering the arm of the artery clamp into place. Quite simply, the greater the downward pressure needed to move the arm, the greater the pressure that is exerted on the patient.
Another form of artery clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,980 to McCray et al. This clamp provides for three dimensional movement of the pressure pad relative to the base while relying on a rubber sleeve carried inside the arm to maintain the vertical position of the arm.
Another artery clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,825 to Freund et al., which provides three dimensional movement of a pad-bearing arm and which provides a threaded pad mount for exerting pressure on a pad.
As the occurrence of catheterization procedures becomes more frequent, the use of artery clamps becomes more commonplace. It is desired that such clamps be of simple construction and that they not have an excessive number of exposed parts which will collect serum and tissue from the patient's on which they are used.